Hinemosu 30 Fa'aali Komepiuta by Yuichiro Katsumoto

Hinemosu 30 Fa'aali Komepiuta by Yuichiro Katsumoto is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award Platinamu in Mamanu Fa'atupu Competition Category.

PlatinamuMamanu Fa'atupu· 2024

Hinemosu 30 Fa'aali Komepiuta

by Yuichiro Katsumoto

Client: The Utsuroi Lab

A' Design Award Platinamu Winner in Mamanu Fa'atupu Category

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The Design

About Hinemosu 30 Fa'aali Komepiuta

O le Hinemosu 30 e fa'aalia ai mataitusi ma mamanu e ala i le vili o fusi pa'epa'e ma'a'a e lima ma masini fa'aola e tolugafulu e fa'atusalia ai le fa'asologa o le taimi. O le polokalame komepiuta e pulea ai le masini e fa'atupuina ai ata fesuia'i e fa'amanatu ai mamanu ie, galu o le sami, afā i mauga, ma kiona pa'ū, fa'apea fo'i ma le aso ma le taimi. O leo masini e fa'atupuina e masini fa'aola e pei o leo o le vai ma le matagi i le natura. O le foafoa ma le mea fou o lenei masini o lo'o iai i le mea e fa'aalia ai fa'amatalaga fa'atupuina e le komepiuta e fa'aaoga ai mea e pei o laina nai lo mea e pei o togitogi.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Platinamu

O le A' Design Award Platinamu na manumalo ai Hinemosu 30 Fa'aali Komepiuta, o se faamaoniga matuā mamalu e tuuina atu i mamanu e moni lava ona ese, matagofie ma mataʻina. O ē manumalo i le Platinamu o mea ofoofogia o le faatufugaga, o molimau o tapulaʻa o le mafaufau fatufatuaʻi, ma e faaalia ai le tomai faapolofesa e le mafaatusalia ma le atamai o tagata mamanu. E faamoemoeina nei mamanu e avea ma galuega sili ona lauiloa e faamatalaina ai le matagofie o le vaitaimi, saunoa i le manuia o le sosaiete ma tuleia atu tapulaʻa o le faatufugaga, saienisi, mamanu ma tekonolosi. Hinemosu 30 Fa'aali Komepiuta e faaalia ai se tulaga maoaʻe o le lelei ma e leai se mea e fesiligia, e faia ai e le lalolagi se nofoaga e sili atu ona lelei i ona uiga aogā ma taua. Hinemosu 30 Fa'aali Komepiuta o se galuega na manumalo i le A' Design Award Platinamu e fafagu ai manaʻoga, faaosofia, faaoloa ai le fiafia, ma tupu ai le fiafia tele.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Hinemosu 30 is a computer display that shows the time and date by twisting five white elastic bands. The five thick lines are controlled by thirty actuators and display a dizzying kinetic typography and motion graphics. The moving image generated by the computer software connected to the device evoke textile patterns, ocean waves, mountain storms, and falling snow. The mechanical sounds produced by the actuators are reminiscent of the sounds of water and wind in nature.
Dimensions & Packaging: 280mm (W) x 120mm (D) x 300mm (H), 5kg.
Tags: Kinetic Typography, Motion Graphics, Visualization, Physicalization, Elastic Band, Rubber, Clock
Production Technology: Components: Elastic Bands, Servo Motors, Micro Controllers, Aluminum Flame, Acrylic Board, MacBook Air.
Design Challenge: The creativity and novelty of this device lies in the fact that it displays computer-generated information using line-like and particularly strip-like objects rather than dot-like or brick-like objects. In comparison to discrete objects, the control of linear objects is more difficult to express delicately because of mutual interference in mechanics. These limitations were overcome in terms of hardware and software in this project through circular prototyping.

In this work, five white elastic bands are arranged horizontally in a black picture frame. Each band is 250 mm long, 40 mm wide, and 1 mm thick. Six white plastic guides are attached to the band horizontally at 42 mm intervals. These guides are used to tilt the band and are linked to servo motors mounted on the back of the picture frame. The servo motor can twist the band in a range of approximately -60 to 90 degrees, although there are slight individual differences. When the servo motor is at 0 degrees, the apparent width of the elastic band is thickest, and at 90 degrees, it is thinnest.

This work uses thirty servo motors, all of which are controlled by a software running on Mac. This software was developed using Cycling '74 Max and generates motion graphics and kinetic typography, calculates the numerical values to control the thirty actuators individually. And it sends the data to the micro controller in Hinemosu 30 via USB Cable.
Research: This project had been explored kinetic typography by manipulating slender objects such as springs and strings with robot arms. Beyond such practices, the current focus is on flat liner object such as strips, ribbons, and tape with two sides of widely varying widths. Those lines change in apparent thickness depending on the viewpoint. For example, if the ribbon is tilted 90 degrees, the line will appear or disappear. If it is twisted from both ends, the line weight changes continuously like a sine wave. Lines drawn by humans with a brush or calligraphy pen also have continuous changes in line weight. Inspired by this similarity, Hinemosu 30 was designed.
Inspiration: The human life is often likened to a line. The line is never straight. It bends, twists, thickens, and thins. The lines are similar to lines drawn by humans for writing. Modern computers output data using points (pixels). Conversely, this designer believes that lines are the source of our life and creativity and wants to let the computer control linear objects. The fruition of this intention, Hinemosu 30 displays letters and patterns by twisting five white elastic bands with thirty actuators to represent the passage of time.
Project Duration: This project started in the fall of 2022 and partially finished in the summer of 2023.
Operation Flow: Automatic operation by software.
Patents: Copyrights belong to Yuichiro Katsumoto, 2023.
Image Credits: Yuichiro Katsumoto